Arrgh! I ordered a Stuhrling...

I held out for a month, but finally broke down and ordered a Stuhrling Regatta when Lee Meister posted about the 10% off sale at overstock.com. I really like the design of this watch and hope that, if I have problems, Stuhrling's customer service is as good as I've heard. I'm also hoping that they have their autmatic movements working better than they did a while back...

I really like the dial and bezel on this watch--it takes its styling cues from Ulysse Nardin and Chopard, neither of which I can afford. I'll put this on a Chopard-style tire tread rubber strap and see how it looks.

It wasn't a big risk and if it keeps reasonable time, I'll be thrilled.

Re: Arrgh! I ordered a Stuhrling...

Yeah...the original concept for Stuhrling was to produce well made affordable homage/copies of high end watches.

They originally were going to be strictly quartz but then the folks from NY got involved and wanted to give the Chinese automatics a try and that is where a lot of their problems started. Originally and IMO to this day, there quartz pieces have been their real values. I have a bunch of them and have been pleasantly impressed with their style, dials, construciton, and attention to that elusive detail.

As far as their auto movements, I have heard they have them straightened out. I have a number of them and some of them are accurate and one of them runs a number of minutes slow. I have sent it back one time but have sort of given up on it. It is an older piece.
I think yours will probably be ok.

I wish they would just go to Miyota autos like Lior has with his Majico line.

Re: Arrgh! I ordered a Stuhrling...

For what it is worth, I have read a lot of reviews on Stuhrling autos recently, and as Dragoon suggested, it seems to me that the number of people complaining about serious quality control problems has declined dramatically over the years. And people do seem to think their customer service is excellent.

Re: Arrgh! I ordered a Stuhrling...

This is purely speculative, but I suspect Stuhrling may have long-term arrangements with some of their movement suppliers. For example, over in the Chinese Mechanical Watches forum, I was noting that Stuhrling is the only company that I have found that offers a rose-gold-plated version of the Hangzhou Watch Company Model 2198 (the skeleton movement in the Stuhrling Symphony Maestro series). And it appears that PTS Resources, the Hong Kong movement distributor which partnered with Hangzhou, has the palladium-nickel and yellow gold versions of the 2198 in its catalog, but not the rose gold version. All that suggests to me the possibility of some sort of exclusive deal between Stuhrling and Hangzhou and/or PTS Resources. Again, though, this is pure speculation. Still, I could see how Stuhrling in general could benefit from such long-term arrangements.

Re: Arrgh! I ordered a Stuhrling...

Contact
At Stührling Original we encourage your questions and feedback. For without input from our valued friends and collectors, we are nothing more than just another watch manufacturer trying to make a buck. Instead, we are just as passionate about the timepieces that we produce as you are in wearing them. We are committed to working together with you to improve our systems, service and ultimately the final timepieces that we offer to you.

We invite you to join the family here at Stührling Original and give us your thoughts about any aspect of our product and company!

Re: Arrgh! I ordered a Stuhrling...

Contact
At Stührling Original we encourage your questions and feedback. For without input from our valued friends and collectors, we are nothing more than just another watch manufacturer trying to make a buck. Instead, we are just as passionate about the timepieces that we produce as you are in wearing them. We are committed to working together with you to improve our systems, service and ultimately the final timepieces that we offer to you.

We invite you to join the family here at Stührling Original and give us your thoughts about any aspect of our product and company!